"Sense of competition before next season is really important" - Emma Raducanu excited for Mubadala World Tennis Championship match vs Ons Jabeur

Emma Raducanu is set to face world no. 2 Ons Jabeur at the 2022 Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Friday night. Their one-off clash in the exhibition event will not count for ranking points or a WTA-level title, but Raducanu is quite focused on the task at hand as she feels the match holds significance in her preparations for the 2023 season.

The 20-year-old British tennis superstar was forced to end her 2022 season in early October after a nagging wrist injury forced her to miss the Transylvania Open in Romania and also the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last month. After a few weeks of intense training, the youngster chose to get some match time under her belt by playing in the Dubai exhibition event.

Speaking in the build-up to the match against Jabeuer, Raducanu explained why it is an important outing for her as she wants to assess her competitiveness ahead of next month's start to the 2023 season:

“I think that the sense of competition and being able to have a match before next season starts is really important and I’ll be able to improve from there, see where I’m at competitively,” Emma Raducanu said on the sidelines of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, according to ABS-CBN News.

The 2021 US Open champion feels she has had a longer-than-ideal layoff from competitive tennis:

"It’s been a while since the last tournament so yeah, just putting more time on the tennis court really and looking forward to playing this event," Raducanu added.

The match against Jabeur will be Raducanu's only appearance at the 2022 Mubadala World Tennis Championship. The duo have not faced each other so far on tour.

Being "more injury free" is Emma Raducanu's biggest goal for 2023 season

Emma Raducanu takes a medical timeout at the 2022 Hana Bank Korea Open.

Emma Raducanu recently expressed her outlook for the 2023 season after having a challenging first full season on the WTA tour in 2022, which was mostly dominated by injury issues. The Briton declared that being injury-free for extended periods of time is her biggest goal for next season, which would allow her to focus a lot better.

"I can’t quite believe we’re at that stage again – the last 12 months have gone so fast. My biggest goal in 2023 is to be more injury free. I just want to stay healthier for longer," Raducanu said in a recent interview with SheerLuxe.

The world no. 76 further shed light on the reasons behind her struggles last season, stressing that she had to play a full season without having the ideal stamina or pre-season training to equip her for the rigors of the tour, which hampered her progress. Having said that, Raducanu vowed to work harder on her fitness:

"This year, the demands of the tour, going from having no training or stamina to being thrown into competing at the top level, my body has struggled. So, I'll be working hard to keep my body in good shape and improving," she stated.

Time will tell whether her hard work and training will pay off as we close in on the 2023 season. A healthy Raducanu is undoubtedly good for the sport of tennis, and one can only hope that her injury struggles come to an end.